<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>like ashes in the wild by esqers</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/30115965">like ashes in the wild</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/esqers/pseuds/esqers'>esqers</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Reqs [12]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Undertale (Video Game)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Character Development, Dust (Dusttale) - Freeform, Dust/Red - Freeform, Dustard, Established Relationship, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Like a dusty kind of kustard y'know, M/M, Red (Underfell) - Freeform, Sans/Red - Freeform, Threats of Violence, kustard - Freeform</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-03-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-16 01:08:26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,444</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/30115965</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/esqers/pseuds/esqers</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>No matter how many times he punched in the coordinates into the machine in the basement, the portal to Undertale refused to open. He wasn’t sure if it was the machine malfunctioning (it wasn’t; he’d spent long hours painstakingly taking it apart piece by piece, checking every single component or if Sans had done something on his side to make it inaccessible.</p><p>He hoped not, even if the other alternative was only worse in his mind.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Sans/Sans (Undertale)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Reqs [12]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2151672</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>117</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>like ashes in the wild</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jaycmore/gifts">Jaycmore</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Written for @Jaycmore on twitter💜</p><p>And inspired by <a href="https://twitter.com/symphoneum/status/1299635343373873152?s=19">this little comic</a></p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Red was pissed.</p><p>No matter how many times he punched in the coordinates into the machine in the basement, the portal to Undertale refused to open. He wasn’t sure if it was the machine malfunctioning (it wasn’t; he’d spent long hours painstakingly taking it apart piece by piece, checking every single component or if Sans had done something on his side to make it inaccessible.</p><p>He hoped not, even if the other alternative was only worse in his mind. He growled and just barely resisted the urge to kick the machine as it yet again produced no results.</p><p>Sure, him and Sans had argued the last time Red had seen him, but it was another stupid quasi-argument about whether astrophysics ot thermophysics were more interesting as a subject. They argued about that almost every other week. Surely that wouldn’t have been enough for Sans to refuse him access to his universe. Right?</p><p>He’d even gotten a peace offering ready (he refused to call it a gift even in his head), a pack of chocolates that the Temmies had overcharged him to hell for. It’d been sitting in his inventory for a week now.</p><p>When he heard his brother’s footsteps coming down the stairs, he didn’t even need to turn to see his expression to know it was full of pity. Yeah, Edge enjoyed spending time with Sans and Papyrus, too, but they both knew Red knew that <em>Edge</em> knew about the stolen glances, lingering touches, and bedroom tousles between him and Sans. Thinking about it only made him angrier.</p><p>But at least anger was familiar, whereas the worry in his SOUL wasn’t.</p><p>“Captain Undyne has assigned us to patrol Hotland today,” Edge said, and Red let out the breath he hadn’t even realized he’d been holding out, in a rush. Undyne probably assigned Edge the patrol, but he’d take the not-quite-subtle offer of a distraction, since it was offered on a silver platter.</p><p>“Yeah. Let’s go, boss.”</p>
<hr/><p>One month, two weeks, and six days. That was how long it took for the Undertale universe to open up again.</p><p>Red only found out because it’d grown into something of a ritual, to go down to the basement and input the coordinates, get upset, throw a bone attack at the wall — which had become a counter of sorts — and then retire to his bed.</p><p>Really, he hadn’t expected it to work. So when the swirling portal of black and gray opened up, he was momentarily stunned, simply staring at it. When he finally realized that yes, the portal was real, and <em>yes,</em> the coordinates were correct, Red didn’t waste any more time, stepping right through it.</p><p>An uncomfortably long moment of being uncomfortably close to the Void, and he stood in the basement of the ‘tale brothers’ house. It looked the same as he’d remembered it, with Sans’ desk still piled high with papers he’d been too lazy to put away, but everything had a coat of dust and the air was stale, as if no one had stepped foot in the room for quite some time.</p><p>Red ascended the stairs warily, pushing the latch open and letting the chill of Snowdin in.</p><p>It was too quiet. He had a bad feeling.</p><p>Usually, there would be voices of the residents around, children playing out in the open, ready to give him another life philosophy crisis with their carelessness, but there was none of that now. Just the wind rustling the evergreens, and the crunch of snow under his sneakers.</p><p>It, too, was weird. Too powdery, faintly gray in some spots, as if…</p><p>Red froze.</p><p>He was more than familiar with the sight of dust, but to see it in the ‘tale universe didn’t sit well with him. All the monsters here were softies, and Red couldn’t imagine any of them fighting, much less to the death.</p><p>Much more cautiously, he made his way into Snowdin proper. There was no sign of life anywhere, and every time the wind picked up, Red’s nasal cavity was invaded by the cloying dust. He didn’t find a single resident anywhere he looked, and he was half-tempted to go back and double check if this was the right universe.</p><p>But he’d already done that.</p><p>It’d been the <em>first</em> thing he’d done.</p><p>He’d taken to wanderin outside the town, then, hoping (and maybe dreading) to find someone. Anyone. Just so he’d know what was going on. The winding paths in the forest eventually led him to Sans’ sentry station. There was nothing extraordinary about it, and so Red continued on, the Ruins and its door coming to view before him.</p><p>Somehow, he was both surprised and not, when he found a figure sitting against the door.</p><p>“Sansy,” he called out, a weight falling off his SOUL that he hadn’t even realized had been there. Thank the stars that Sans was okay, he was—</p><p>Sans lifted his head, and through the shadow cast by his hood, he looked at Red… with red eyelights.</p><p>Red skidded to a halt, cold sweat drenching him. He knew what LV looked like in a monster. He knew what LV looked like in himself. Blue flashed in Sans’ socket, a purple streak where it intermingled with the red, and Red found himself on the ground, pinned by Sans’ weight on his pelvis.</p><p>“I know,” he mumbled, gaze flicking to the side, and Red just then noticed the scarf wrapped around his neck, tattered and coated in dust, but a familiar one nonetheless. “I know, Papyrus. This’ll be the push we need. This time… This time we’ll have enough.”</p><p>He summoned a bone attack, raising it in his hand as the other hand pinned Red by the sternum. It was pointed, not unlike the attacks Red himself used in battle.</p><p>“Sansy,” he mumbled, looking up with wide sockets.</p><p>Sans’ eyelights moved back to him, sending a shiver up his spine. “Stay still.”</p><p>“Sansy! It’s me!” Red repeated, voice sterner, even if it wavered a bit. He knew what an LV rush looked like. The crackling of static in the air around them told him this was a strong one. What on earth had caused <em>Sans,</em> of all people, to gain LV?</p><p>Sans paused with the bone construct raised high, and peered down at Red with his mismatched eyelights, as if seeing him for the first time. There was still a trail of purple in the left one.</p><p>“Red,” he said, as if he was tasting the name on his non-existent tongue.</p><p>Red’s teeth quirked up into a hesitant grin, too lopsided to be one of his usual ones. “Yep. So uh… how’s about y’put the bone down, sweetheart. ‘N tell me what happened here?”</p><p>Sans leaned back on his haunches, but he didn’t lower the bone, not yet. His gaze slipped to the side again, head cocking just barely as if he were listening to something.</p><p>“Yeah,” he conceded, nodding. Red had a nagging feeling he was listening to a one-sided conversation. “Where were you?” Sans turned back to him, and if Red could’ve, he would’ve jumped at the intensity of the stare. “When everything went to shit… When I…”</p><p>“Sweetheart, yer ‘verse’s been locked. I couldn’t get in ‘til t’day,” Red told him, reaching up to take the bone from his grasp. Sans yanked it back, but after a brief tousle, Red was able to knock it off to the side and half-sit up.</p><p>Sans was shaking, he realized, as well as muttering under his breath, too quiet to make out anything but a couple words here and there. </p><p>“I w’s trying, here—”</p><p>Gently and slowly as he dared, Red pushed Sans off of himself, and pulled out the box of chocolates from his inventory.</p><p>“I uh… I felt bad,” Red admitted, “‘Bout the argument. Got y’chocolaes, but… Well, I thought it was you that locked the ‘verse.”</p><p>Sans looked at the chocolates, blinking like it was the first time he’d ever seen chocolate in his life, and then he chuckled, devolving into full-blown laughter as it went on.</p><p>There was a glint in his eyelights as he stood up. Magic was still crackling along his joints, and Red could spot all the dust clinging to his clothes, like he’d all but rolled in it.</p><p>“You’re still funny,” he said eventually, when he stopped laughing. “Paps likes you. Think we’ll keep you around, ‘til the human returns.”</p><p>Red slowly picked himself up off the ground, claws curling around the box that Sans hadn’t taken. His throat was dry; he knew the threat in his voice wasn’t idle.</p><p>“But when they do come around, you’re nothing but EXP fodder.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>My twitter is @esqers</p></blockquote></div></div>
</body>
</html>